In general, this invention relates to the fields of Bloch surface wave-enhanced optical diffraction and analyte detection.
Optical devices play an important role in biosensing, offering high sensitivity, fast responses, and the capability of remote sensing. A change in the amplitude, phase, or frequency of an input beam in response to the presence of an analyte is used to alter detection, providing an optical transduction of the biorecognition process that often includes the adsorption or absorption of the analyte of interest. There are a number of optical effects that can be exploited in sensing, such as a modification of the fluorescence properties of the molecules involved in the detection or a simple local refractive index change due to the presence of the analyte. In diffraction-based sensors, the magnitude of signal typically depends on a change in the thickness of a grating, and this change is usually very small.
Accordingly, diffraction-based sensors with improved signal generation are desirable.